E v o l D i r

December 1, 2012 EvolDir 35
versity and abundance of species and how these might
change over time; (2) dynamics of predator-prey or
other interactions between species; (3) evolutionary
adaptation and speciation. Data to be analyzed will include
molecular, morphological, ecological, and/or behavioral
characters, and will involve macroecological,
macroevolutionary, and population genetic and phylogenetic
analyses. A single student will focus on one
aspect of the project, though interest in the integration
between ecological and evolutionary approaches is
encouraged.
Project PIs at UC Berkeley are: Rosemary
Gillespie , John
Harte , Neo Martinez
, and Patrick O’Grady
in the Department
of Environmental Science, Policy,
and Management (ESPM); and Rasmus Nielsen
in the Department of
Integrative Biology (IB).
Other PIs are Dan Gruner (U. Maryland, dsgruner@umd.edu),
Don Price (U. Hawaii Hilo,
donaldp@hawaii.edu), and Kerry Shaw (Cornell,
KLS4@cornell.edu).
Students interested in these positions are encouraged
to email one of the PIs for more information.
Applications to UC Berkeley for
Fall 2013 must be received by Dec 1, 2012.
For details see: http://ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/graduate-programs/application-information/
for applications
to ESPM; and http://ib.berkeley.edu/grad/admissions/index.php
for applications to IB. For grad
programs at the other institutions, please contact the
appropriate PI.
– Rosemary G. Gillespie, University of California
Berkeley, http://nature.berkeley.edu/˜gillespie/
UCalifornia Riverside
SymbioticEvolution
Graduate Positions: Evolution of symbioses
The Sachs lab at the University of California in Riverside
is looking to recruit multiple Ph.D. students interested
in plant-bacterial symbioses.
Our research seeks to understand the emergence and
spread of exploitative traits in symbiont populations,
especially the plant symbiont Bradyrhizobium japonicum.
Bradyrhizobia are bacteria that induce beneficial infections
in legume plants: the bacteria form nodules on
host roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen in exchange
for carbon from their plant hosts. Potential projects
include collecting Bradyrhizobium from wild legume
populations, culturing and sequencing DNA of bacterial
isolates and using computational and experimental
methods to test hypotheses about the evolution of symbiosis
and pathogenesis. Other common techniques include
experimental evolution, microcosm experiments,
greenhouse inoculations and molecular analysis at the
level of genes to genomes. At a broader level our lab
also studies the macroevolution of symbiosis across bacteria
using computational techniques that gather and
analyze data from published sources.
The University of California at Riverside is home to
a very strong collection of faculty researching ecology
and evolution. The Department of Biology hosts
an excellent graduate program in Ecology, Evolution
and Organismal Biology (http://eeob.ucr.edu/-
). Moreover, the Sachs Lab welcomes students
from the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics graduate
program (http://ggb.ucr.edu/), the Microbiology
graduate program (http://microbiology.ucr.edu/-
) and the Botany and Plant Sciences program
(www.plantbiology.ucr.edu/) .
Riverside is a great town with excellent weather, access
to beaches, mountains and desert and is in close
proximity to Los Angeles, Palm Springs and San Diego.
For more details see our website: www.sachslab.com .
Interested students are encouraged to email Dr. Sachs
(Joels@ucr.edu). Please include a brief description of
your research interests and a CV in your email. Note
that applications for Fall 2013 admission must be submitted
by January 1st.
– Joel L. Sachs Assistant Professor Department of Biology
University of California #310 Science Labs I Riverside,
CA 92521 joels@ucr.edu Office (951) 827-6357 Fax
(951) 827-4286
Mailing Address: Sachs Lab UC Riverside 3401
Watkins Dr 1229 Spieth Hall Riverside, Ca 92521
http://www.sachslab.com http://www.biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Sachs.html
joels@ucr.edu